The invention concerns a device for transferring a component of a moulding assembly during an operation for moulding small articles, making possible the vertical picking up and replacing of a first mechanical piece, a countermould, complementary to and separable from a second mechanical piece containing the first piece, a main mould, the said pieces constituting a moulding assembly.
During the moulding of small articles, notably of frozen confectionary, with or without a stick, described as being "non-strippable", because, for example, they have a convex part, it is necessary to separate or remove the different parts of the moulding assembly in order to strip the articles from the mould.
European patent application No 93105076.9 refers to a process, a machine and an assembly for moulding small articles of frozen confectionary of the type indicated above, in which the system for transporting the moulding components comprises main moulds fixed to a plate constituting the rows of main moulds, the said plate being articulated on a first endless chain, independent countermoulds, extraction grippers fixed to a bar articulated on a second endless chain and a bar associated with the countermoulds, the function of which is to guide the countermoulds to a washing station.
Such a machine therefore enables the countermould to be picked up for the stripping of the articles from the mould, the countermould to be replaced in the main mould, and the moulding assembly to be guided to the washing station.
The plates of moulds in industrial use eventually exhibit a fatigue state characterised by a bending deformation consisting of a deflection which may measure several millimetres at their middle. The countermoulds, whose shape matches that of the main moulds, will then admit of a difference in level which may prevent, in the case of some of them, notably those which are placed in the middle or at the ends of the plate, from being correctly grasped by the grippers and from being replaced in the correct position in the main moulds.